Firstly, thanks to all my reviewers, namely 'grr', 'just another reviewer', Mony19, bloody vampyre mistress, kayleena mason, HimikoSagara, willow-wiccan, FeralShadowwolf, la romantique perdue (twice lol), BuffyBc and AutumnSoleil.
secondly, sorry for ages between updates, im finding it hard to find time, plus the sites been malfunctioning
thridly, someone thought that Anya would never want Spike. In the episode that these few chapters is based on (my minds gone blank, can't remember the name of it lol. It's the one following First Date anyway) Anya tells Spike that she wants to have sex with him at least twice, so hope i cleared that up
Fourthy, yeah they're out of character, especially in this chapter, but right now, Spike and Angel just want out of each other's way. And they're annoyed at Buffy for kissing both of them. So sorry about that.
Enjoy :D
Chapter 11
Angel and Spike sat in a stony silence, until finally Spike spoke,
"This isn't going to work"
"I know" Angel replied sullenly "So for the sake of Buffy's sanity, not to mention our own, what're we going to do"
"One of us could leave. Not leave town, just the house"
"Okay. How do we decide who"
"You were here first" Angel sighed, deciding it was the noble thing to do, "I'll go back to the mansion"
"I'd only been here for a few days before you got here. Anyway you two are 'soul mates' and whatnot" Spike said, surprising himself with his honesty. Right now he didn't care where he went, as long as he was away from the constant bickering. It would even be a relief to be free of the potentials.
"We haven't seen each other for years. I don't have any bigger right to her than you have"
"So how to we decide?" Spike repeated. They fell into an uncomfortable silence, before Angel finally asked what was on his mind,
"What happened last night?"
"What?" Spike feigned innocence
"I asked Buffy about you, and she said something happened between you last night. What was it?"
"I just kissed her. She jumped away as soon as you walked in"
"On the couch?" Angel asked a look of realisation on his face. Spike nodded.
"I knew she was acting weird" Angel went on.
The door swung open, and Buffy strode in,
"Did I just hear you two having a civilised conversation?" she asked in mock amazement
"One of us needs to go" Angel said bluntly, "And we can't decide who"
"No! You can't!" she said, looking from one to the other, her gaze resting on Spike, for she was sure he would once again be the one to offer, and sure enough he was the first to speak again,
"I…" but he was interrupted by a piercing scream from upstairs. The two vampires quickly exchanged a glance before both pairs of eyes fell on Buffy, waiting for confirmation on what they each thought they'd just heard.
"That's Dawn" Buffy said, sounding weak, and then all three of them turned and charged for the stairs, all thoughts of moving out now vanished from their minds.
Buffy reached the bedroom the continuing scream was coming from, followed by Spike, with Angel slipping in after him. Xander was the next to arrive, pursued by an army of potentials, Willow, Andrew, Anya and Giles. Each stood still, as they tried to process the sight before them. One of the potentials was swinging, rope around neck from the light in the room. Buffy moved forward first, heading towards Dawn, while Spike went to the body and lifted it down, laying it on the floor. The silence rung through the virtually silent room, as Dawn's screaming had been reduced to crying on Buffy's shoulder.
"She's cold. Been there for at least an hour, I'd wager." Spike said, after a quick assessment. Suddenly, Buffy rounded on the potentials
"An hour? How could you not notice she wasn't there"
"I thought she was with Molly" one said, staring at the ground, tears brimming in her eyes. Others murmured some sort of agreement. Buffy rolled her eyes, and began to give orders,
"Spike, take the body outside, we don't need to look at it. Angel, I'd appreciate it if you went to the cemetery, see if there's any vacant graves. We don't have time to dig her her own." Angel nodded and left instantly, while Spike waited behind, until the room had completely vacated, intending on following Angels' scent to find the right site. Soon, only he, Buffy and Dawn, who was still standing, frozen to the spot, staring into space remained.
"I'd better get going" Spike said, carefully lifting the body, seeing that Dawn wasn't quite ready to leave yet. Buffy nodded, but reached out and touched his arm as he walked past,
"Things like this are exactly why we need you. Both of you" Spike didn't reply, just left, looking over his shoulder at Dawn as he went.
After the small funeral service, preformed by Giles, the vampires with some assistance from Xander filled in the grave. They then began to follow the slow procession of Potentials who were gloomily heading back to the house. An angry looking Buffy fell behind to walk with them,
"I don't believe that girl could be so stupid" she said suddenly. Neither vampire spoke, and Angel remembered his own near suicide attempt on the streets of Sunnydale that the First had also nearly caused.
"Before today, I didn't even know her name" Xander said numbly
"Neither did I. She was just another Potential to me" Spike said, sounding guilty.
"We can't blame ourselves." Buffy said determinately, "The other girls need us to be strong"
"Sounds more like heartless than strong to me" Spike argued, "If we're not to blame, who is? We're all more worried with ourselves than the girls. It's our fault. No one else's. Each of them looked at him, silently agreeing, before Buffy strode ahead again, leaving the two vampires and the man trudging slowly behind.
They let themselves into the house, twenty minutes later and were greeted by the sound of Buffy giving a speech on how stupid the girl must have been to kill herself, and how none of them should attempt the same thing. All felt the need to intervene, to tell Buffy to leave the Potentials alone. They certainly weren't to blame for the actions of their peer, but Xander lacked the energy to argue with the worked up vampire slayer today, and neither vampire wanted to give Buffy a reason to throw them out of the house, because although they had both volunteered to leave, they didn't want to, because it would mean giving up and accepting defeat in the war for Buffy's heart. Fortunately for them, one of the Potentials, Kennedy, decided to defend herself
"Who the hell do you think you are, telling us that we should have looked after poor Chloe better? You weren't around; you couldn't see that she wasn't coping. You didn't even know her name"
"I was out, fighting evil. Right now, I'm the only one that can. I don't have time to patrol, train you, hold down a job and spend time with all of you every night"
"But you're not the only one, are you?" Kennedy replied smugly, "Willow's more powerful than you. Spike and Angel are a match for you. What gives you the right to lead us"
"Because I'm the only one that uses their power." Buffy said, avoiding everyone else's eyes.
"That's not fair" Xander said, stepping in to defend his best friend, "They do what you tell them.
"Not well" Buffy replied coldly, "Willow's afraid of her own power, Spike's acting like a wounded puppy and Angel was never as strong as me. Except when he was Angelus"
"So what? You want me to turn on you?" Angel asked, "Because I know Angelus, and once he's out, he's not liable to take your side"
"I just want you to fight like him" Buffy amended, "Nothing else"
"I try my best" Angel said, knowing that he was whining
"Well your best isn't good enough" she snapped,
"Just 'cos your stressed, doesn't mean you can take it out on us Slayer" Spike spoke from the shadows, then his voice softened, "I know you're scared"
"I'm not" she interrupted defiantly
"Course you're scared. There's a big bad around, and we don't know how to kill it before it kills us. There's no running, there's no hiding. It's normal to be scared. It's human nature"
"How would you know anything about being human?" she said coldly
"I still know what it's like to be afraid" he finished. A silence fell over the room
"So, what now?" Willow asked nervously
"We could take a look in that bag the principle gave you" Dawn suggested in a tired voice
"What bag"
"He called it a Slayer's emergency kit. It belonged to his mum. She was slayer before me." Buffy said, in a quieter voice than before, "This seems as good a time as any to use it. Dawn go fetch it, it's under my bed. Potentials… Get some sleep. This doesn't concern you. Everyone else can do what they like." For a second, no one moved, until, all at once, The Potentials and Dawn began to move towards the door. Everyone else remained in the room, either out of curiosity or loyalty to Buffy.
Review :D
